It started on June 25th. We got up around 4:00 am and began the journey. My dad and I headed to the airport, got on the plane, and were off. We got to the Portland Airport around 9:30 am. I met up with some High Cascade people and began my High Cascade experience. After I met up with them we had about an hour or so to just hang out. So I hung out with 3 other guys that ere waiting also. They were all really nice. Then the van showed up, we packed in and headed up. It was about a 2 hour drive from the airport to Government Camp, OR which is where the camp is located. On Mt. Hood. We talked the whole ride and finally made it to camp.
We got out, stretched out legs, and made our way to registration. There, we were checked by the camp nurse, got our housing arrangments, and our authorization wristbands. I dropped my stuff off at my cabin and then went to the skateparks. It was a really fun skatepark. Lots of different elements, tranny, street, stuff like that. I pretty much skated there and made friends until orientation. We all met at the bowls and had our 1st full camp meeting. Just to get to know everything. After that, it was back to skating then dinner, then back to the cabins to watch tv and stuff. I met my other 17 cabin mates and we were all just happy to be there.
The next day was suppposed to be the 1st day of riding, but it was SO foggy and rainy that they did not let us go up. It was a terrible start to the session. So instead of riding, we went paintballing. It was still super fun! Just not as fun as it could have been riding. So that day was fine and we got back and hung out a little bit. Then we ate dinner hung out some more and went back to the cabin for bed.
The weather the next day was the total opposite from the previous day. It was sunny and warm and perfect. This was the 1st day we got to ride with our coaching group and our coach. I got the best coach up there, Johnny O'Connor. And my group was awesome too. Except for 1 kid who annoyed me, but I didn't let him get in the way of me having the best time. The 1st day was supposed to be a day to get your feet back under you riding, but instead, I decided that since we had missed the 1st day, I had no time to get my feet under me. So the 1st day back, since I never learned anything backside on rails, I learned Backside 50-50 and Backside Boardslides. I got both of those down, so it was a great start to the progression.
The park was amazing. It had, no only everything, but every size of everything. There were big jumps, little jumps, Big rails, little rails, big hips, little hips, big pipes, little pipes, and medium everything. I learned a lot that I can now take to bigger things.
The next day was also bluebird. I took that day to get the tricks that I had learned the day before on lock. Then I learn Frontside Lipslides and Backside Lipslides. I took the rest of the day to put all the tricks I had learned into lines.
The next day, it was super foggy so we ended up riding the public park. The Timberline Terrain Park, had some perfect jumps to try new stuff on. I got a Frontside 360 on a 40 foot tabletop that I was pretty stoked on. And there were many rails. Also, there were 2 hidden features. There was a rainbow box, that was attached to a C box, that a lot of people didn't see and hurt themselves on. Also, there was an up box, to down box, that people got hurt on, because you couldn't see it. Other than that the park was fun.
The day after that was the same thing. We rode the public park all day because it was too foggy up top. It was still totlly fun though. And we took laps the whole day.
The next day, the weather was really bad, but we were allowed to go up anyways. We went up and took a couple runs, then it began to pour down rain. So we stopped and got lunch. My entire group including my coach, chose to leave. But since your aren't allowed to ride without a HCSC Staff member, Johnny hooked me up with Seth Hill, as a coach. So I got to ride with his group for the second half of the day. It was still pouring rain, but on our last run we decided to go into the trees and meet up with this other group that had built a little jump perfect for flipping and stuff. other people were throwing straight airs and stuff, and I wanted to try something new, so I went for a Nollie Frontflip and I got it 1st try. I think people were pretty impressed. Then I tried backflips and got them around my 3rd try. So I learned both Backflips and Frontflips in the span of about 10-15 minutes. Which I think is pretty cool. It started to REALLY pour so we were forced to leave. But I am SUPER glad that I chose to stay and keep riding otherwise I wouldn't have learned those tricks. There was no skating that day when we got back because the skatepark was too wet. So we just talked and stuff.
This was our last day on hill. So everyone was getting there last runs in. I just took this day to get everything that I had learned on lock. This was also the day that I got to play a game of 4 on 4 basketball with Danny Davis and Jack Mitrani. That was super awesome. I was walking around and got to meet Kevin Pearce and get a picture with him. He is really nice.
The next day was our final day. I got up normal time and had breakfast. Then we loaded up the Vans, headed to the PDX, boarded our planes, and headed home.
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